Hate crime: British teen arrested for assaulting elderly Sikh man

A video grab of a woman attacking an elderly man in the British city of Coventry in West Midlands.

The video of an 80-year-old Sikh man being punched in the face and shoved to the ground by a 19-year-old British woman has triggered outrage amid fresh concerns over hate crimes.

Closed circuit television (CCTV) in the British city of Coventry in West Midlands has captured shocking footage of the woman attacking the elderly man, who can be seen making feeble attempts to defend himself.

The man's turban fell off and the attack left him with a bloodied nose and black eye, British media reports said.

The woman abused the man and spat on him before walking off following the apparently unprovoked attack near a bus station in Coventry's Trinity Street at 8.30pm on August 10.

The police arrested the woman after a video of the attack, recorded by a passer-by on a mobile phone, went viral online and was shared on Facebook.

The police are treating the attack as "serious malicious wounding", which is punishable with up to five years in prison.

The video of the attack triggered a wave of revulsion after it was circulated widely on the social media, The Coventry Telegraph reported.

Coventry Police chief Andy Nicholson was quoted by the paper as saying, "This was a despicable, violent attack on an elderly man in broad daylight. The victim is an 80-year-old man, he was left with a bloodied nose and a black eye."